


Alive

by papersandals (laronmi)



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: Gen, Platonic Love, Post-Series, Spoilers, Triangulum Arc Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 08:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3929638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laronmi/pseuds/papersandals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is impossible for a human to truly live without love and affection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alive

**Author's Note:**

> record breaker made me want to write fic. i love alcor's love for everyone. i love the record breaker ending. MAJOR spoilers for the end of the triangulum arc, and specifically said record breaker ending.

It is impossible for a human to truly live without love and affection.

A human being who does not experience or obtain those things in any capacity is not living — they are only existing, surviving.

Once, he was not human. Once, he did not require love and affection to live, yet he craved them and gave them freely all the same. A tool has no need for a sense of belonging — they only need to fulfill their purpose.

His was not to love, and yet he loved nonetheless.

And now… Now that he was human—

“You’re going to drown if you fall asleep like that.”

His eyes open. Above him, Miyako Hotsuin’s form eclipses the sun, blocks out the light so that he can only see the sun in the form of a halo around her body. She’s frowning, pouting, leaning over him with her hands on her hips and her hair spilling over her shoulders.

“Miyako Hotsuin,” he says, drowsy with sleep and so utterly, utterly content. “I love you.”

She jolts back, and the sun comes into view, so bright and warm that it hurts his human eyes. He closes them, winces in pain, but enjoys the warmth from its rays. Miyako is silent, and the sounds of the others talking and playing from further up the beach reach his ears, countering the splashing waves against his legs.

“Heat stroke and sunburn,” she says at last. “You’re going to regret this when you’re peeling and miserable.”

“Ah,” he says, keeping his eyes closed. “I had forgotten that humans burned.”

He hears her sigh, then the sun’s warmth is gone. He opens his eyes again to find her bent almost in half, face so close to his that he easily reach up and touch it. He nearly does so, but she grips his hands and begins to pull him away from the ocean, his back scraping against the sand.

“You could be helping me by getting up.”

“Of course, Miyako Hotsuin,” he says. He moves his arms and legs, heavy still from drowsiness. He bends them, and then frowns as pain shoots up from his limbs. The skin that’s not covered by his wetsuit is red and, when he prods it, painful.

“You didn’t apply any sun lotion at all, did you?” Miyako says, moving behind him and pushing his shoulders to propel him into movement. “Io’s set up an umbrella. You should take shelter under that for the remainder of the day. Otome might be able to do something about that burn, too.”

“I appreciate this,” he says, and she sighs again, steadying him as he falters on the sand. They are approaching their friends now, and through the pain and the sudden onslaught of dizziness, he can hear their friends’ conversations shift as they approach. Daichi mentions something about a lobster, and then Otome is rushing out to meet them, fussing over him as she helps Miyako guide him to Io’s umbrella.

“Oh, Saiduq,” Otome goes, rummaging through her bag as Io joins Miyako in helping him to sit, “you poor thing! You forgot to put on sunscreen!”

“I had none,” he clarifies, sitting down at last only to have a bottle of water thrust into his hands. “I had forgotten how delicate human bodies were.”

Otome tsks and pulls out a jar of some sort of balm, along with a pair of gloves. She puts on the gloves, then after shooing away the others from the umbrella, begins to gently rub the balm onto his burned skin.

“Thank you,” he says. “I love you.”

Otome’s hands falter. His friends fall silent. He turns to Io, smiles at her, and says, “Thank you as well, Io Nitta, for the umbrella and your help. I love you.”

The silence does not change, and Otome’s hands go still. He realizes he has said something wrong, but before he can ask what he had done wrong, Joe whistles.

“Woo, Saiduq’s turning into a real casanova! Watch out, Hibiki. He’s going to steal your harem from you!”

Ronaldo smacks Joe in the shoulder as the Shining One expertly nails Joe in the face with a water gun. Joe laughs, the conversation starts again, and Otome sighs before returning to apply the balm onto his skin. He feels warmth all over, even though he’s still uncertain as to what he said wrong. Part of that is from the physical condition of his body, but the part of him that he embraces and treasures as his human heart swallows the warmth of pain and overwhelms him with the warmth of affection and love.

He is human — frail, fragile, filled with infinite potential, and alive.


End file.
